Circuit Court of Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans announced the Annual Circuit Court of Cook County National Latino/Hispanic Heritage Month Courthouse Tours will take place on Wednesday, October 4, 2006, and Friday, October 6, 2006, in the Richard J. Daley Center, 50 West Washington Street in Chicago. Co-sponsoring the tours are the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois and the Puerto Rican Bar Association.

The tours offer the public a sense of day-to-day operations in one of the nation’s largest unified court systems. Tour highlights include a visit to a courtroom to observe a trial in progress, an informal presentation by a Circuit Court judge, and the opportunity to meet with bar association representatives. Tour participants receive the Spanish and English versions of the court’s informational guide, which contains an overview of the court, a directory of court and county services, and background on the trial process.

The Annual National Latino/Hispanic Heritage Month Courthouse Tours are part of the court’s year-round Community Heritage Month Courthouse Tour series, which combines public education activities with national and local observances marking racial and ethnic diversity. Tours are also held during Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Italian Heritage Month, Arab Heritage Month, Polish Heritage Month, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and Puerto Rican Heritage Day. The tours have been attended by thousands of Cook County residents.

Individuals or groups planning on attending the Annual National Latino/Hispanic Heritage Month Courthouse Tours may contact Milissa Pacelli of the Circuit Court of Cook County’s Public Affairs Office at 312.603.1927 on or before Wednesday, September 27, 2006. The tours are limited to persons age ten and older, with a maximum of 35 persons to a group. Reservations are recommended. The tours will depart at 10 a.m. from the Daley Center’s west lobby located on the Randolph Street and Clark Street side of the building.

For more information about courthouse tours and other programs and services of the Circuit Court of Cook County, visit www.cookcountycourt.org.